Oct/100
Exploring Costa Rica’s Capital – San Jose
For many travelers San Jose City is nothing more than a stop over and move on to their next adventure in a new destination. But this pulsating cultural capital of Costa Rica and so much more than that. There are tons of interesting things to see and do here: museums, theaters, delicious international restaurants, and great shopping places will be waiting for you. My advice for travelers is to make this your home base for day trips to some of the countries most popular attractions that this area hosts.
Can't Miss This
Museums and Gardens
City parks and plazas Theaters
Churches and Downtown Landmarks Volcanoes
Shop at the Central Market (Mercado Central)
Take a cultural tour of a coffee plantation
Hike up to the mouth of Poas and Irazu Volcanoes
A full day at a nature adventure park
A Bit of History
San Jose City (better known as San Jose) is actually the second capital of Costa Rica. The original capital was cartago until it was moved in 1835. Around the year 1737 this city was known as 'Villa Nueva de la Boca del Monte del Valle de Abra'. A few years later the name was changed after the city's patron who was Saint Joseph.
There were many historic events that impacted Costa Rica's culture and San Jose's but the ones that made the most impact were the development of the coffee exports industry, the influence of the French revolution and the country's declaration of independence from Spain. Before the independence the country was split into two: the Democrats, who wanted the country to remain a Spanish territory, and the Republicans, who wanted to centralize the power and make Costa Rica an independent country. In 1823 there was a which ended up being won by Republicans as a result the capital was moved to San Jose and Costa Rica became an independent country.
Did You Know?
San Jose is located in the Central Valley of Costa Rica and is surrounded by large forested mountain ranges and some volcanoes. There are also green savannas, and working coffee plantations.
Other Nearby Cities
Alajuela
Escazu
Grecia
Santa Ana
Marina K. Villatoro, the Travel Experta, lives in Central America - Costa Rica and Guatemala for the past decade. She's traveled these parts extensively and now loves to organize vacations to these amazing parts of the world. Having first hand experience of all the places with her family, she can recommend the best options for you. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip!
Aug/100
Family Travel – Xocomil, Guatemala
Guatemala has surprised me a lot. It is so much more than I thought which brings me to my story:
My family an I were visiting a theme park in Guatemala that we love. It is called Xetulul and can be found in the Retalhuleu Department of Guatemala. The place is fantastic and we love visiting it, next to it is its sister, Xocomil Water Park. Since I'm not crazy about pools we had never visited it but this time we gave it a shot. I can't believe what I was missing.
The place is amazing! That's all there is to say. It has tons of pools for kids with waterslides and places where they can have some fun without adults having to run after them all the time. There are also huge waterslides for adults that looked pretty scary but the truth is that the turned out to be a lot of fun.
There are also some other interesting and fun rides for the whole family such as a rafting waterslide, a pool with artificial waves and artificial rivers where you can hop on a canoe and paddle for a while or just relax while you float among plants and representations of mayan stelas. We wanted to see both parks so we decided to spend a night in the area and found out that there are 4 hotels that belong to the parks. As usual we decided to see all four of them before I decided to stay in one. Finally we decided to stay in the one called Palajunoj which is the newest one.
Let me tell you what the hotel is like: It is inspired in rain forests all over the world that's why it has 5 buildings each with a different theme, they are: Polynesian, Indonesian, Thai, African and Mayan. It also has beautiful gardens with turkeys running around freely where you can go for a relaxing and scenic view. But my favorite part of this hotel was the restaurant it serves delicious Polynesian food in a beautiful and relaxed ambience.
I highly recommend coming here. I bet you never thought Guatemala had such a place. it's simply amazing!
Marina K. Villatoro, the Travel Experta, lives in Central America - Costa Rica and Guatemala for the past decade. She's traveled these parts extensively and now loves to organize vacations to these amazing parts of the world. Having first hand experience of all the places with her family, she can recommend the best options for you. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip!
Apr/100
Safari Chapin – Much More Than An Animal Park In Guatemala
If you are looking for a day filled with adventure Auto-Safari Chapin is the solution it.
What you can do here:
Be in the middle of an exotic collection of animals in this car safari
Eat around like a king
Flop around in a huge pool
Take a gorgeous ride in a boat
You can take a leisure, rather, pleasure walk in their zoo!
You don't need a car to go in this safari. You can rent one from them and it won't cost more than the same price of the entrance fee of a car. You can drive close to the animals. When I say close, it's because they will be right out your window!
The park has different entrance fees: $8 for only the safari ride and $12for the safari ride, the pool, the boat ride, the zoo and a great lunch with a drink and dessert. The kids get discounts. I took the $12 package because the food is great and much more expensive when you buy them separately and I don't regret it.
Between the safari exhibits, you get to relax in a rest stop where the kids can play around and you can stretch your legs.
After that, you can head to either the pool or to an ultra-relaxing boat ride. I recommend the boat ride because it is really beautiful and calm.
To be honest, when I first paid the entrance fee, I didn't expect too much of it. But after all, I must admit it was pretty good.
Marina K. Villatoro, the Travel Experta, lives in Central America - Costa Rica and Guatemala for the past decade. She's traveled these parts extensively and now loves to organize vacations to these amazing parts of the world. Having first hand experience of all the places with her family, she can recommend the best options for you. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip!